Winner! Winner! Chicken Dinner!

The older I get, the more I realize how disgusting frozen chicken nuggets are. We bought a well-known brand name (I'm not going to say which brand.  I don't nugget bash.) bag of chicken nuggets about two weeks ago. I could barely eat three pieces of chicken. They were mushy and they didn't even look like chicken on the inside. Gross. 

That's when I decided we weren't eating those anymore. 

While I was making our menu for the next couple of weeks, I decided to try making our own chicken nuggets at home. This sort of goes along with my goal that I mentioned yesterday. I want to cook more foods homemade and not use so much pre-packaged junk.

So today, I made homemade chicken nuggets. They were a hit! 

Tonight's dinner:

Homemade chicken nuggets

Homemade mashed potatoes

Green beans (bought frozen)

Applesauce

Before we get started, I have to let you know that when it comes to things like this, I'm an estimator. I didn't measure out the exact amount for each ingredient. I err on the side of caution so I can keep waste to a minimum, and then add more later if needed. Obviously you can't do that with all recipes, but you can with this one.

Ingredients for the chicken nuggets:

--Enough chicken breasts to feed the family-- 

I used four. There was plenty for us to eat, plus I made some chicken strips for D to take to work tomorrow for lunch.

--Bread Crumbs--

--Garlic Powder--

--Parmesan Cheese--

--Salt & Pepper--

--One egg--

--Cooking oil of your choice (vegetable, canola, etc...)--

First, pour some cooking oil into the bottom of a skillet. Just enough to have a thin layer on the bottom of the pan. Turn the stove onto a low setting so you can slowly heat the oil. We'll come back to it in a few minutes. 

Scramble the egg in a bowl. Set it aside. 

Here comes the estimation part:

In another bowl, pour about 1 cup of breadcrumbs.

Add in a little bit of each of the parmesan cheese, salt & pepper, and garlic powder.

You know your taste preferences, so channel your inner chef. 

Here are my egg & breadcrumb coating bowls:

Now, go back to the stove and turn up the heat a little bit on your skillet. I wouldn't put it any higher than medium. I have a stove that likes to get VERY hot, though. You may have to adjust it a little after your first few nuggets to get it just right. Just remember, you don't want it too hot because it will burn the outsides before the center is cooked.

Next, you're going to cut your chicken into bite-size pieces. 

Dip it into the egg, then put it in the breadcrumb bowl and coat it. 

Just like this:

See my chicken nugget assembly line? 

Cut, coat, cook!

After you've coated your chicken, place it in the pan to cook.

Be sure to turn it after a few minutes to be sure that both sides and the middle get cooked thoroughly. After your first few are finished, cut them open to make sure they are completely white in the middle.

I'm no chef, so I hope the directions sound as easy as they really are. I had no idea that making chicken nuggets homemade was so simple & delicious!